Housework Commons: Community-Engaged Workshop

Jocelyn Ho; Margaret Schedel; Susan Goodwin; Sofy Yuditskaya

Housework Commons: Community-Engaged Workshop
Image credit: Jocelyn Ho; Margaret Schedel; Susan Goodwin; Sofy Yuditskaya

Abstract:

Housework Commons, a feminist activist project under the Women’s Labor initiative, transforms domestic tools into Embedded Acoustic Instruments (EAIs) using sensor technologies. It reimagines unpaid, undervalued domestic labor—traditionally private—as a shared act of activism, addressing global gender inequality in domestic work through public engagement with gendered objects. Housework Commons includes two custom instruments: 1. Embedded Iron v.3, based on an early-20th-century ironing board and iron, uses machine learning and sensors to alter pitch based on the iron’s position and sound quality (timbre) depending on fabric color and texture. The board acts as a resonator with a transducer and speaker. 2. Rheostat Rotary Rack, inspired by a rotary dryer, features rheostats, a rotary encoder, and an 8-speaker base. Hanging clothing triggers pitches based on weight, while rotating the rack by hand or wind adds select frequencies. The workshop integrates community-engaged participant action research approaches of Story Circle Method and Photovoice Method with EAI interactive engagement, where participants engage in a co-led, interdisciplinary workshop to dialogue about issues of gender inequality in the NIME community and write down their experiences on fabric banners. These fabric banners, together with fabric banners from a past workshop with a local mothers’ will be featured in interactive installation that sonifies housework gestures. These fabric banners that encapsulate today’s experiences of gender inequality create a “living archive” installation, a dynamic site where installation and performance unfolds.